This page was created for parents and students in my Horizons For Youth Classes at Northampton Community College. My name is Karen Pasquel and I am the instructor for this class and creator of this page. Thanks for stopping by! This page continues to change as I add our lessons and activities, often on a daily basis, please bookmark it for future reference.
We will work with strategies to help aid comprehension, vocabulary, and develop our writing skills. We will be reading and writing throughout our day using short stories,poetry, journals, and the writing process. This class is not a quick -fix, but it is a way to keep your child involved in reading and writing activities. I plan to incorporate a variety of techniques using the various learning modalities. We will have visual, auditory, and movement experiences to help enhance the overall learning environment!
Here is an outline of learning objectives we'll focus on:
| Class Reading & Writing Objectives Week of: July 24-28 | * To assess prior knowledge and interests. * To informally assess using Reading Inventories and writing samples. * To identify strengths and areas needing improvement using formal and informal assessments. |
* To engage prior knowledge strategies and use active reading strategies to help develop comprehension skills of fiction and nonfiction selections. *To incorporate a variety of writing ideas including writing prompts and poetry. *To practice identifying author's purpose, main-idea, and differentiate fact from opinion in non-fiction texts (ie: The Morning Call(NIE), articles, etc.) |
* To study words using parts: prefix, root, and suffix parts. *To incorporate new vocabulary and develop richer story content into our writing. |
Note: Reading for 20 minutes or more a day can increase word rcognition, fluency and comprehension-TRY IT! Read as a family! Everyone can enjoy! |
| Reading & Writing Activities Week of: July 24-28 | Monday We constructed posters using describing words as an introductory exercise. In order to get to know one another we also completed an "interests inventory" and some answers were shared. In our Comprehension book we read 3 simple poems and completed questions. After completing an idea web and brief rhymes list, we wrote simple couplets-a form of rhyming poetry. |
Tuesday Today we worked with the writing process: Interviewing a friend,idea webs, drafting,and creating a final "pretend newspaper" article. We also started tomorrow's lesson with adding words and details to simple sentences to create more complex ideas. |
Wednesday We practiced using details to extend sentences.We also used a Venn diagram and practiced identifying the Main Idea in a nonfiction selection(Comprehension wkbk). We also began our chapter book "Mrs. Coverlet's Musician's" by Mary Nash-after creating prior knowledge( a pre-reading activity)we read/discussed chapts 1-3 in class, chapters 4-7 are homework. |
Thursday We practiced using transitional (prepositions)words in linking sentences in paragraphs. We read chapter 8 together in "Mrs. Coverlet's Magicians" then completed a story map(to increase comprehesion strategies). The students are to take the book home to complete reading. Please bring the books back on Monday. Worksheets from the week's work were sent home today. |
| Reading & writing Activities Week of: July 31-Aug. 3 | Monday The Morning Call(NIE)-, Novel study-"Number The Stars" by Lois Lowry. (NOTE: I even found a webquest which goes with this novel! See my webquest table below.) We will create a background for the story, work with vocabulary, antonyms, prefixes, begin chapter 1 (maybe even 2)and write an acrostic poem. Homework-Read to chapter 3. |
Tuesday"Mrs. Coverlet's Magician's"-We finished this book summing it up with a question/answer session and story frame (another comprehension activity). We Continued with instruction on Identifying the Main Idea in newspaper articles. Continued with vocabulary and background information for "Number The Stars". Homework-Read chapter 4-complete follow-up question worksheet. |
WednesdayNewspapers-Identification of adjectives and paraphrasing/summaries of articles in the Morning Call. Poetry-identify a topic and list attributes. Write an acrostic poem. "Number The Stars"-discussion of chapter 4 and check homework questions. Read chapter 5. Please return Horizons For Youth evaluation sheets to class tomorrow or mail them to the address on the sheet. |
Thursday Today's lesson began with a vocaulary puzzle/review from our "Number The Stars" novel. We then worked on a stategy called a K-W-L chart/graphic organizer- which is used with non-fiction (it is used before reading, during the reading, and after reading to organize thinking and practice comprehension)using a non-fiction selection in our comprehension workbook. With our newspapers we summarized an article on the controversy of clel phone use in school. Throughout this article we discussed fact-vs-opinion, then completed an exercise on identifying facts-vs-opinions. We ended our class with a summmation of Chapter 5 using the worksheets for our novel. Your child should have brought home:a Comprehension practice workbook(w/seperate answer guide),"Number The Stars"-novel and study guide(which includes literal/inferential/opinion discussion question, a character analysis and comprehension outline), completed worksheets of activities, poetry writings, and issues of the newspaper |
| Just For Fun Webquest Links (This is not a part of our summer studies) |
Number the Stars: A WebQuest about the Holocaust-Works with our novel of study! | Evaluating Persuasive Reading-Medium | Fun Link to a Variety of web quest sites! | NOTE:These webquests may increase reading interest-TRY THEM! |
Listed Below are links containing short stories, learning games, and writing ideas for independent study! Enjoy!
*********Read,Write,Think (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!)****
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This site was created by Karen Pasquel and last updated on 07/30/06
